Beyond Imitation

Technological progress in developing countries

Technological progress is why ordinary people today are richer than monarchs who lived 200 years ago. Yet when development experts think about how developing countries can grow, technology is not one of the levers we try to pull. Meanwhile, the progress studies community values technology well, but focuses on the US and other rich economies. Beyond Imitation is a newsletter about bridging that gap – about technological progress in developing countries, and how developing countries could design technology and innovation policy.

I’m Karthik Tadepalli. I’m finishing up my economics PhD at Berkeley, where my research focused on both development economics and the economics of science/technology. You can find me on Twitter and say hi by email.